Devonna Walker, A Black Woman, Was Murdered And Called A N*gger By White Man, And Charges Still Haven’t Been Pressed
I wrote about this earlier.
On January 2, 2023, 29-year-old Devonna Walker was called a f — n — before being stabbed to death by her white neighbor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Her killer was detained and released that same night.
While a video showing Devonna’s murder has now been released, the murderer has not been arrested, or charged, and his name has still not been made public.
The police, however, finished their investigation on January 12, and Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman and Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks released the following statement on January 13:
“The Linn County Attorney’s Office received the final investigative file into the death of Devonna Walker from the Cedar Rapids Police Department the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2023. There is a lot of information to consider and evaluate and we will make it a top priority, however, as in many cases, we may need to follow up with the police department to discuss the case further so that we can make the appropriate decision based on the evidence and nothing else. Arrests and prosecutions for criminal offenses are based on police investigations, the collection of evidence and witness statements, and legal considerations by prosecutors. As our office previously stated, investigations and important decisions regarding whether criminal charges will be filed and what level of charges will be filed are done after thorough consideration and can take days, weeks, and even months to complete.
This local news clip shows Walker being murdered, stabbed to death, by her neighbor. It happens quickly. Walker gets into a verbal altercation with a man and a woman. The man calls Walker a f — n — . Walker approaches the woman, pushes her down, and the man instantly stabs Walker. From the viewer’s perspective, you can’t even tell what’s going on. At the most, it looks like the man is jabbing/punching Walker. You don’t know she has been stabbed until she collapses on the ground, and someone later comments that her blood is everywhere.
**trigger warning***
This is part of the statement from the Cedar Rapid’s police department the night the video was released:
The Cedar Rapids Police Department and Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks consulted on the investigation and determined further investigation was necessary to determine whether charges were applicable and what they would be if deemed appropriate.
It is not uncommon for an investigation to take days, weeks, even months until the necessary evidence is gathered to decide whether criminal charges are warranted.
Iowa is a stand your ground state.
Remember, stand your ground is the controversial law that led to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense, in 2013 after he stalked and murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin in cold blood.
Stand your ground is controversial for several reasons.
It removes duty of retreat. The law is not applied equally across racial demographics. Lastly, a person only has to say they believed their life was in danger. Their life does not have to actually be in danger.
Critics of “stand your ground” say that the removal of a duty to retreat has helped create an environment where people tend to escalate, or even provoke, confrontation that might otherwise be avoided.
Further, the subjective terms used to define what constitutes standing your ground are what make it dangerous in some cases.
“You could theoretically feel like you were threatened by anyone,” he said. “If I’m walking and some guy pops around the corner and surprises me, it could startle me enough that I’d feel threatened, and under ‘stand your ground’ I could shoot him, even though he was just walking too.”
Former Attorney General, Eric Holder noted, stand your ground laws “create more violence than they prevent.”
Stand your ground laws also heavily favor white killers, so it’s not hard to believe that white people are aware of this well before they use lethal force.
Numbers don’t lie, and here are the facts:
When controlling for variables, the odds of a white-on-Black homicide being found justified is 281% greater than the odds a white-on-white homicide is found justified
the number of homicides of Black people deemed legally “justifiable” more than doubled in “stand your ground” states between 2005, when Florida’s law went into effect, and 2011
in cases involving a white shooter and Black victim, homicides were ruled justified 45 percent of the time, as compared to 11% of the time when the roles were reversed
In Florida, the first state to have stand your ground laws, a Black person asserting a “stand your ground” defense in a case where a white person was killed was twice as likely to be convicted as someone using the same defense being tried in the killing of a Black person. And if the victim were Black, and the alleged killer asserting the “stand your ground” defense white, he would have better than double the odds of being let go
We all know that in America black lives don’t matter and a black life simply existing is a threat to some people. We also know that white people have an unhealthy and pathological fear of black people.
A traffic infraction, a push, any misstep, it doesn’t matter. This warrants the snuffing of a Black life to some people.
Local news station KCRG even said the video showed why police might be hesitant in pressing charges against the murderer.
But like Angelina Ramirez, Vice President of Advocates For Social Justice says, “it’s not up to the police to create a defense for the killer. It’s up to his defense team.”
The altercation that occurred before the murder of Walker was not an isolated event.
As Walker’s mother, Lasean Boles, explains:
On December 21 she was with her daughter when the neighbor, the man who killed her daughter, had his pitbulls attack them while calling them the n-word. Boles called Cedar Rapids police after this incident.
She says:
This is a racist murder. I want justice for my baby because she did not deserve this.
In the video, after Walker is stabbed, and is lying on the ground dying, she is mocked by the woman, who stands over her and says —
She’s playing stupid. She’s playing stupid. She’s acting like the dog attacked her.
This killer was waiting in his doorway with a concealed knife. Did he think Walker was going to walk away after he called her a f — n — or did he anticipate, hope, that the provocation would lure her to his doorway?
This man killed Devonna for three reasons, and three reasons only:
- She’s Black and he’s a white supremacist with a history of harassing his black neighbors.
2. He wanted to…
3. He believed he would get away with it…
There will be a candlelit vigil for Devonna held today in Cedar Rapids at Elevate Life Center (Gospel Tabernacle Church) from 6:00–7:30 p.m.
They are also holding a food and essential supply drive and collecting donations of non-perishable items and gift cards for Devonna’s family.
This is the GoFundMe to help Devonna’s three children —
This is how you report a hate crime to the FBI —
If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, we encourage you to report it to the FBI by calling 1–800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous.
